“Healthy aging” editorial illustration

Illustration I made during the Editorial Illustrator’s Playbook course at Inkygoodness Collective, inspired by a New Scientist article on the effects of relationships and mindset on healthy aging.

I knew I wanted to pursue a more “slice of life” interpretation rather than a purely conceptual one, but at the start I tried a few approaches. One was almost literally a scene of older members in my family having tea in the kitchen together—a daily ritual. In another sketch, I tried a visual metaphor: a sort of Mount Rushmore scene of different life stages, and the work of constructing and maintaining such a monument.

But my final approach was taken from life, something my childhood friends and I often joke about: ending up at a retirement home together where we play board games with each other all day. Until then, we meet every summer at a family cottage near Montreal, roll dice together, eat cookies and burgers, and sit by the bonfire.

This was the approach that got the most positive response from fellow classmates, citing the emotion and relatability, so I developed that one.

My colour palette was itself a visual metaphor: the vibrant autumn of our lives.